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Do you know how to reach for the stars or do you just shoot for the ceiling? We all know that we should set goals, attempt to make dreams come true and live the best possible life we can. A lot of people settle for or take the mediocre road and tell themselves it’s the best they can do. Let’s begin by being truthful with ourselves and figuring out the best course of action to change the journey to a better one.
We all have responsibilities and sometimes they take precedence over our own goals and dreams. It’s easier to put off doing the one thing you are most passionate about because you don’t have to face the challenge of failure or your own fears. Perhaps it’s not failure you are concerned about but instead success itself. Ultimately to be the person you are meant to be you need to stop accepting your fears and excuses as to why you aren’t going for what you truly want out of life.
We’ve all heard those inspirational stories of the mother that went back to college once her kids were grown to get that degree and become that lawyer or teacher she has always wanted to become. How about that senior citizen that went to college and graduated with honors and finally got her degree as she had always wanted. Even the single dad that did what he had to in order to raise his kids but ended up getting the career of his dreams later in life once the kids were older and able to be more self-sustaining. If you seriously look you will find inspirational stories of those achieving their goals and dreams.
Perhaps you are an individual that has so many ideas you have no clue which one to work on first. You end up crippling yourself because you don’t know how to decide which idea to begin your journey. That too can be over come by asking yourself the proper questions.
How does one go about reaching for the stars, juggling dozens or more ideas and overcoming those fears that are holding you back? Here are nine methods to help you with reaching for the stars.
1. Create a list of every idea you have ever had. It does not matter if the idea is good, bad, outlandish, decent, and far-fetched or any other name someone has told you that your ideas have been before this point. Write them down. Don’t stop at the usual ideas, really go for it and put everything down you can think of or have thought about.
2. Put that list into categories. The best way to know what ideas you can do presently and what ones you might need to build up to is by categorizing them. Begin with the categories of large capital (money) or little to no capital to make happen. Once you have them split into two categories based on finances, begin sorting them by individual (something you can accomplish alone) or incorporating others so that you are better aware of what it will take to pull off those ideas.
3. Prioritizing the lists. Now that you have your ideas broken down assign a number to each one by priority. You are going to go 1 through 20 with one being the most important and 20 being the least important. You may have 3 ideas or maybe 50, you do the numbers based on how many ideas you have.
4. The top 5. The ideas that can be done individually pick the top 5 and put them on their own list. Do the same for those ideas that incorporate others.
5. Rate your list. Now that you have a list of the top 5 individual ideas and the top 5 of incorporating others ideas you will begin to rate your lists based on these criteria; Passion, Research, Experience, and Knowledge. Passion is for the items on your list that you feel the most passionate. Research is for the items on your list that you know you need to do more research, but you may have already completed a ton on particular topics, they would rate higher because you have already done it. Experience is rated based on how much experience you have on these topics on your list. Knowledge seems redundant but in fact you may be quite knowledgeable about some of your topics based on information through relatives, friends or jobs that might boost this idea along. You will rate each item 1-5 on your top 5 lists. One being the least important and five being the most important in how you see them under each criterion. You cannot give the same number to any of the top 5 items on your list under each criteria, it must be a rating of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 for each criteria column.
6. Calculate your top 5 lists. There are four criteria categories and you had numbers 1 through 5. The most any one idea can get is a score of 20 when you add your numbers up across each criteria. Based on your totals for each topic idea you can then see where you should be focusing your time and energy to achieve one of these ideas. In case of a tie when doing this, pick the idea that had the higher passion score.
7. Idea to goal. Take your top scored idea and make it a goal. In order to turn any idea or dream into a goal you have to set a deadline to complete it. If it’s an idea that is based on you as an individual then analyze out how much time it will take you to accomplish this goal. Set a date for a deadline and begin figuring out how much time you need each month, each week and each day to achieve it. If it’s based on finding other individuals to help with the idea then set a deadline to speak to those that you are considering to join you in the idea. Work out as many details as you possibly can on your own so that when you meet with the others you can entice them to join you by knowing as much about it as possible.
8. Take action. Get out your calendar and begin scheduling in that deadline and how much time you need each month, week and day to accomplish them. It is up to you to have the self-discipline to do more than put it on your calendar. You need to be the one to take action in order for it to become reality. It does not matter if you have to schedule 30 minutes on your calendar to work towards this goal or hours, as long as you are moving forward.
9. Does your goal have multiple parts? Don’t stop before you ever get started. Run it through the list process again but begin with placing like-minded items together to direct your idea towards a specific path. Example: Your goal is to write a book but you have no idea what to write about, so you put all your ideas for possible books into a list then you group them together based on like-minded ideas. Such as, you have an idea about debt reduction and one is about saving for a rainy day and another might be about investments, then you have a topic on making soap, and another on gardening, then group the topics together and perhaps the first thing you should write about is financial issues. You might be more passionate about that over making soap or gardening. This will direct your path on where to begin even when you have no idea or think you have no idea from your initial list.
The difference between the ceiling and the stars is your ability to be focused and disciplined enough to keep at it until you reach your goal. It is also your ability to fail and get back up until you achieve that goal. Some people hit the ceiling. You want to reach for the stars. Even if you end up hitting the eagle you are still so much higher and further along than you ever would have been if you kept looking towards the ceiling.
I hope this post has helped you with overcoming the obstacles that keep you from reaching for the stars. Please share this with others that are struggling to accomplish their dreams, as it may help them reach for the stars as well. Leave me a comment on how you have overcome to reach for the stars. I look forward to seeing you in the stars.
Have a blessed week.